Month: March 2019

Nine years after the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law, there is much to celebrate regarding the progress made in American health care. The uninsured rate has been cut in half, insurers can no longer deny, drop, or limit the care you get because of a pre-existing condition, out-of-pocket spending has dropped by double digits, millions of people benefit from tax credits to pay for coverage or no-cost preventive care, women can no longer be charged more than men, and millions of young adults can stay on their parents’ plan until age 26. It’s no surprise, then, that […]

A sponsored guest piece from Marianne Williamson’s campaign. Presidential candidate and best-selling author Marianne Williamson will return to Iowa for five days of campaign events over the next two weeks. These will be her third and fourth visits to the state since declaring her candidacy. These next two trips will focus on the Central Iowa and Fairfield areas of the state. There will be two college campus visits, along with a meeting with the Asian & Latino Coalition. Williamson’s most recent Iowa visit was covered by Buzzfeed Politics. Read their full story here. An excerpt: Buzzfeed: “Here in the 21st […]

The Trump Administration decided this week to ask the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to kill the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Trump Justice Department said it supported the Texas Judge who ruled in December to end the ACA in its entirety. The case will most certainly go to the Supreme Court, and it will put millions of Americans’ heath care at risk. Hundreds of thousands of Iowans would lose their pre-existing condition protections, including Iowans that receive their insurance through their employers. Senator Ernst has been a cheerleader for the Republican ACA repeal crowd, and she will own this […]

Senator Kamala Harris is making sure they get a jump start on organizing Iowa’s college students before they head off campus after spring semester ends. Her Iowa campaign is announcing today five “Camp Kamala” youth organizing training sessions, where students will learn about how to organize their communities, how the Iowa Caucus works, and what Harris would do for young Americans as president. The trainings will be held at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, Drake University, the University of Northern Iowa, and DMACC. They’re scheduled between April 16 and 18. Students, whether they’re currently supporting Harris or not, […]

Back during Elaine Baxter’s childhood, party loyalty was a simple matter. “When I was growing up, it would be unthinkable if you worked in a factory and were a Republican,” Baxter explained to Starting Line last week. “The two didn’t go together.” Now 86, Baxter, who served as Iowa’s Secretary of State from 1987 to 1995, has seen a sea change in her adopted hometown of Burlington, Iowa. Once a Democratic stronghold, the blue-collar Mississippi River town with a population of 25,000 became a key flip in Donald Trump’s 9-point win over Hillary Clinton in 2016. “People we know were […]

The first in a series of 2020 candidate book reviews from Iowans, led by IDP Vice Chair Andrea Phillips. I should have known when I decided to start the 2020 Book Club, where we read the books of the Democratic presidential candidates, there would be a lot of interest — Iowans take their politics and their role in vetting candidates seriously. 550 people joined. We’re tackling the books in alphabetical order (and yes, every announced candidate has a book), so we started with Senator Cory Booker’s book. The Senator will be joining us online Thursday, March 28 at 8:30 p.m. […]

Iowa Democrats owe a debt of gratitude to the Asian and Latino Coalition, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) of Iowa, and Iowa State University student Taylor Blair for continuing their fight to overturn the Republicans’ 2017 voter suppression ID law. In May of 2018, LULAC and Blair, assisted by Priorities USA, successfully sued Iowa’s Secretary of State Paul Pate, preventing Pate from fully implementing the ID law. The Asian and Latino Coalition helped initiate the process, and got LULAC involved to lead it forward. The LULAC/Blair suit significantly aided Democrats in 2018 elections by maintaining important absentee ballot […]

Progress Iowa released their ranking of Iowa Republicans’ Extreme 16 contest for the year, highlighting which elected officials have had the worst impact on Iowans. Following the Progress Iowa press release, Representative Bobby Kaufmann (R-Wilton) responded to his inclusion in Progress Iowa’s annual listing of the most extreme Iowans. Kaufmann wrote an email from his state legislative email address to Progress Iowa Executive Director Matt Sinovic stating that, “I’ll add 3rd-rate comedian to your list of credentials right behind known liar and political hack.” Progress Iowa Executive Director Matt Sinovic issued the following statement in response to Kaufmann: “If Rep. Kaufmann […]

In what was one of the busiest caucus weeks yet, five presidential candidates fanned out over Iowa recently, mostly in the eastern half of the state, to woo potential caucus-goers. Starting Line was on the road for seven days straight, covering the visits of Beto O’Rourke, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, and Cory Booker. Whenever there’s this many back-to-back events, plenty of interesting, telling moments get left out of the larger news coverage. For myself, anyway, that’s often due to simply being too tired by the time I get back to the hotel room or home at the end of the […]